Advent 2025, Week 1: Psalm 112, Part 4
When we are in dark, difficult situations, we are often self-focused, wallowing in our misfortune and hurt. It is not wrong to sit with our pain. In fact sitting in our pain is needed for a time. As I mentioned in the previous post, when we feel that pain, we lament, and we cry out to God. But there is another step we can take, and Psalm 112 describes that next step.
In our study of Psalm 112 this week, we have arrived at verses 4 and 5. Continuing the theme from the previous post, the psalmist teaches us how to live the way God wants us to live. His words in verses 4 and 5 are very much connected to verse 1, where we read that wisdom is fearing the Lord and delighting in his commands. Now in verses 4 and 5, the psalmist writes that wise people who fear the Lord are “gracious and compassionate and righteous,… generous and lend freely, [and] who conduct their affairs with justice.”
These words in verses 4 and 5 depict the lifestyle choices of a wise person who fears the Lord. Take note of the outward movement of these words. This is the ancient wisdom for those in darkness. Though in darkness themselves, the life of God flows from them. While we do well to be gracious and compassionate toward ourselves when we are struggling, the emphasis of verses 4 and 5 is a person who, despite their own personal darkness, lives a flourishing life because they give their life so others can also life a flourishing life.
What is especially notable about this passage is that it is not only connected to verse 1, describing practically what it looks like to fear of the Lord, but all these outward facing characteristics are connected to the beginning of verse 4. What did we see at the beginning of verse 4? A person in the middle of darkness. But the rest of verses four and five make a significant move, from a focus on ourselves in darkness, to a focus on helping others experience flourishing. When we are in darkness, it is our outward focus on serving others that can bring the dawning light of a new day to both others and ourselves.
Through the years, when my wife and I have counseled people who are going through a hard time, a regular piece of advice we give them is to start serving others. Even if you don’t feel like serving others. When you help others, often the feelings follow. This is not ignoring your pain, it is wisdom, pursuing an outward movement in the midst of your pain.
Fearing the Lord includes serving others, and what you will find in time is that you delight in it. Not always initially. Often fearing the Lord and following his ways might feel like a pain, like we have to force ourselves to do it, but in time, we find it to be a delight.
Furthermore, good things will come. See the beginning of verse 5. This is another proverb, not a promise. You can do everything right, and still have a misfortune in your life. That is just the way of the world. But generally, when you give your life to helping others, to serving others, good things will come to you, even if that simply means good things emotionally and spiritually in your connection to others and God.
See how this theme continues in verse 6: “Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.”
Can you name the names of your great grandparents? How about your great, great grandparents? The fading memory of their names is a reality check to us. We are right to be believe our family relationships are important. But it is normal that those family relationships are important only for a few generations. Clearly, what the psalmist is saying is not true 100% of the time. The vast majority of people, righteous or otherwise, are not remembered beyond a generation or two.
But the psalmist is not wrong! Once again, he is using figurative language, in this case exaggeration, to make a point. Will every righteous person be literally remembered forever? No. But when we live our lives generously for others, we widen the circle of our friends and acquaintances. We are building a community of love that supports one another. Just as we are in people’s corner amid their darkness, they are in our corner in our difficult moments. We have one another, we trust in God, we do not need to fear.
Curiously, though, verses 7 and 8 seem to have a very different approach to the concept of “fear.” Verse 7, “No fear of bad news.” Verse 8, “have no fear.” But in verse 1 we are told to fear the Lord. Sounds like a contradiction between verse 1 and verses 7 and 8. Yet, they are all the same Hebrew word. What is going on?
This is not a contradiction. We find out how in the next post.
Photo by Cherry Laithang on Unsplash
Engaging Scripture 